Finding Me (Love's Not Easy Series Book 1) (13 page)

“You honestly believe that, don’t you?”

“A good example is Sunday night. Mark preached on trust and how, too many times, we put our trust in other people, ourselves, or the world and not God. That message is how I regained my sanity last night. I realized I needed Him to fix my problem.”

“But, I was the one who went and talked to Professor Lewis.”

“You did. But, come on, you didn’t say anything I didn’t say to him yesterday.   He was ready to fail us both. I prayed to God and put my trust in Him. He used you to help do it, but if God didn’t change his heart, I don’t know where we would be right now.”

“I can see that. I really didn’t have a clue what to say or do. When I woke up this morning, it all changed, I knew exactly what to say.”

“See.”

“So, what does the Bible say about drinking?”

“I am so glad you asked.” Aimee took out her Bible from her bag. “
Proverbs 20:1 Wine [is] a mocker, strong drink [is] raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. And 1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.
” She closed her Bible and turned to Aiden.

“When a person drinks alcohol or uses drugs it, takes control over their rational thought process, their actions, and their moods. Pretty much, it clouds the entire mind. But, if we stay sober, our minds are clear and focused, aware of ourselves and our surroundings. We are actually studying this on our Wednesday Night Bible Study Group. You are welcome to come with us anytime you want.”

“Ok. That is something to think about. The verses and the Bible Study.”

Chapter Fourteen

Aimee took her bag to her room. She had several text messages to read, mostly about classes. The last one was from her dad, she read it five times. She couldn’t believe what he was telling her.

She ran down the steps. Everyone except Josiah was home. “I got a text from my dad and I can’t believe what I am reading.”

Aiden took her phone. “Calm down. I’ll read it. Sweet.”

“Out loud, Aiden.” Lexi shook her head.

“Ok, he said he is coming in to visit the last weekend in March.”

“We already know that.” Lexi was growing inpatient.

“Let me finish, Lexi. Since Aimee has been doing so great with her grades, he and Deandre decided to get her a gift while he is here. A new car.”

Piper and Lexi screamed and gave her hug. “That means he will let you return here next year.”

Colin and Aiden were already on line checking out cars.

Aimee came and placed her head between them. “I want some say on my car, ok. But, before we get too far ahead of ourselves, I have to get a Neahovian Driving License.”

“Yes, you do. So, tomorrow, I will go to our local DMV and pick you up a handbook to study. Then, next week, we will take you to do the written test and we can all help you with getting ready for the driving part.”

“I can’t believe I have to even do the driving part again. Thanks, Colin, you are really sweet.”

“Yeah, well let’s keep it a secret. I do have an image.”

“Oh, of course.”

After dinner, Aimee and Piper went with James to the Outreach meeting. She was going through a box of supplies her church in America had sent them. Tessa came and sat with her.

“How are you?”

“I’m fine, I just really miss her. I can’t believe she has been gone eight years now. I was only 10, but I remember everything about that day. The phone ringing, Gran screaming. Brad taking me to the TV room. Then, his mom and Gran leaving us with his dad. When Gran and Miss Opal came back, you and James were with them.  Then, dad and Mark came in a little while later. James sat beside me and acted like he was my protector.”

“He was always like that with you. But, that day, he decided it was his job to take care of you.”

“Yeah, there was a minute there I thought he wasn’t going to let dad or Gran around me.”

“I wasn’t going to.” He sat on the other side of her and Piper sat to his right. “I knew they were about to break your heart and I didn’t want them to do that.”

Aimee hugged him as she wiped a tear. “And when they did, you moved right back in and didn’t leave my side for two weeks.” She turned to Piper. “He slept in the hall floor in front of my door. No one was getting to me without going through you and Brad.”

“Who is Brad?” Piper was learning more about Aimee and her mom tonight.

“He is Mrs. Opal’s son. You remember, I told you about her, she lives on the plantation.”

“Oh, yeah.”

“I actually need to call her. Hey, how about I do that now on speaker, she loved to hear that you and James are with me?”

“Oh, yes. Put her on speaker.” Tessa grinned.

Opal was so glad Aimee was not alone tonight. She was with people who knew her mom and could share her memories and know how hurtful today was. She talked to them until their meeting began.

The group planned to have a Spring Festival on the second weekend of May. They had ten weeks to get it organized. Aimee decided she and Aiden could put their marketing skill to the test. They would make up a slide show that Tessa and the lady's aide could take to local venders to see if they would donate or like to participate. Piper and James was all over the advertising. When they left the meeting, everyone was encouraged to come back next Tuesday with five booth ideas. Everything needed to be Christian a theme.

Aiden was glad to help Aimee put the slide show together. He knew a few vendors who may help. Lexi wanted to help; she said she would talk to Tessa to see what she can do.

That night, when Aimee went to bed, it was on such a better note. God helped her through two big things. Now, all she had to do was study for her provisional license {learners permit) and study for school.  She fell asleep after she thought about the Festival. God help her not to take on too much.

The next morning, Aimee read her Bible and then went to make coffee before Aiden got up.   She poured his cup and placed a sticky on it that read:
Romans 13:13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. I will be on the back patio.

Aiden took the sticky note off his cup and read it. He had to smile. He asked her what the Bible said and she is showing him. He would put it in his tablet with the other two he wrote down yesterday when she left. He was serious about studying up on this. He was seeing where Aimee came from on this issue. Last night, he asked Lexi about the church service she went to Sunday and she went on forever about how God used that message to help Aimee.

Saturday morning, Aimee started loading her laundry basket. Two weeks without going down to the laundry area in the rec room has caught up with her. She stripped her bed and checked the restroom for anything needing to be laundered. She put her liquid detergent and fabric softener in one of her baskets. The last thing she grabbed was her mom’s diary and her laptop. That would give her something to do. The rec room was pretty much empty on Saturday mornings.

Everyone but Aimee and Aiden was out for the day.  So she stopped in to let him know she would be at the rec room doing her laundry if anyone needed her. She looked at his basket, it was horribly overloaded. Aimee was shocked.

“Do you have any clean clothes?”

“Two outfits. My mom said she was no longer sending someone to clean after me or my brother.”

“So, what did you think? The laundry would do itself?”

“No, I thought she would cave in. I took a picture last night and text it to her.”

“And?”

“And she text back that she knew how I should spend my Saturday.”

Aimee couldn’t help but to laugh. “Do you even know how to do laundry?”

“No. She told me to do research on it.”

“Grab your laundry and come on. I will show you how.”

“Really? Thanks.”

“Believe me, I am not doing this for you. I am not sitting beside you in class with those stinky clothes on.”

Aiden had no clue how to even start the washing machine, let alone sort his clothes. Aimee taught him, just as her Gran had taught her. The Rec Room was totally empty, so they took two machines a piece, leaving one empty, in case someone else needed it.

After they started the machines, they went to a table in the rec room to wait for the machines to buzz.

Aimee took out her tablet and her mom’s diary. I thought I would read some more. We go to Mystique Paradise in two weeks. She handed him the diary.  “You read.”

May 5
th
, 1986

M.A.L. is furious at my mom and H.A.L. He has yelled at them for over an hour. H.A.L. looked so frightened of him. I can’t believe I put my mom through this. When he was done yelling at them, he yelled at me. He said I would be graduating high school soon and I need to start thinking about my future. He said being the only child, I had to worry about my mother’s future as well as my own.

He wants me to marry right after graduation, but I told him no. I was going to go to college. He slammed his fist on the table, making us all jump. He told me I was going to marry before I was twenty and an old maid. He said he had the gentleman picked out. He and the gentleman’s father are working on the details.

I stood and raised my voice and told him he was not my father and had no authority over me. I told him I will marry when I am ready. That is when he hit my face so hard I fell backwards. My mom and H.A.L. went crazy. H.A.L even pulled out a knife on him. My mom talked her out of hurting him, then she told him he was no longer welcomed in our home. She told him he had no authority over her or her daughter and he should go home and worry about what his own son was doing.

I was very impressed with my mother. When they left, she helped clean my face. It is bruising, but she thinks we can cover it with makeup. Then, we had a talk about M.A.L.; he was not going to back off easy, so she was going to call some friends to help protect us.

RGA wanted to go out, but my mom refused.  She did let him come to the house for a while. As long as I could see him, I didn’t care. Tomorrow at church we will sit together as well. I am going to pray for M.A.L and for God to protect H.A.L.

Aiden stopped and looked at Aimee, she had obviously read this part before. She was still pale and crying. He wanted to stop reading the hurtful stuff.

Aimee wiped a tear. “Sorry. I...”

“You have been reading this on your own. So, you tell me what day she talks about going somewhere other than her house.”

“May 10
th
, and I stopped reading on that page. To tell the truth, I never thought I would hear bad things. In my mind, Aiden, she fell in love with my dad and that was that. He swept her off her feet and she followed him to America and Gran followed her.”

“I wish, for your sake, it was that simple.” Aiden turned the page and cleared his throat.

May 10
th
, 1986

RGA picked me up from school today, he was going to drive me down to OBO for mom. First we are going to BHD and meet AES and her boyfriend there. She has been seeing him for a while. He was very gorgeous and totally in love with her. He was taking a chance coming to BHD, I fear this could be bad for both of them.

As for me and R.G.A., he is such a gentleman. I am thankful God gave me a Christian guy. Tomorrow, we are going to go clean RWL with a group of volunteers from churches in neighboring communities.

Mom is doing great, we haven’t seen M.A.L since that day, and not because he isn’t trying, but mom took out a restraining order on him. We graduate school in one week and I have been accepted to two colleges, but I am afraid to go too far from mom. So, I will probably try to find one closer. The college of my choice is a few hours away, and with M.A.L. on the loose, it is too far. I haven’t told her yet.

“That is all she wrote that day. So, we have a few places to look for.”

The washing machine buzzed, so they loaded the dryers and reloaded the washers.

Aimee pulled her laptop in front of Aiden. “Ok, I searched BHD first. I did a 30 miles radius. There are twenty-five businesses that could be BHD. Now, I am going through and trying to find the ones that serve food. I have ten of those.”

“Ok, you name them off and I will write them down in the tablet. Big Henry Davis, Berthas Hot Dog, Better Ham Deli, Bistro HD, Big Hot Day, BHD Treats, Ben Harry & Dave’s, Betsy’s Hamburger Dive, Better Hurry Down, and Been Here Dinner.”

“Ok, some very weird names. So, what’s next?”

“I am going to see what ones were around in 1986. Ok, that narrowed it down to five. Better Ham Deli, Better Hurry Down, Berthas Hot Dog, Betsy’s Hamburger Dive, and Big Hot Day.”

“So, we know where to pretend we are eating.”

“Yeah, but unless Berthas sells something other than Hot Dogs, we can rule it out fast. My mom hated hot dogs.”

“So, the other place is RWL.” Aiden wrote it down.

“Yeah, and they were going to clean it, so it could be a park, street… or I got Right Way Lagoon it was reopened in 1986 after a volunteer group consisting of several churches in the Community organized a clean day.”

“Wow, Aimee, can’t get more specific than that.”

“It’s a God thing, Aiden, He is letting us know we are on the right track.”

The dryers buzzed. “Time to learn to fold, come on.” Aimee took out her first load and showed him what to do. He knew more about folding than sorting, so she focused on her’s.

“Aimee, something bothers me about these entries. She does not give initials of AES boyfriend, the exact town she lives in, or the colleges she was accepted to.”

“I know, I have been thinking about that. It seems she knew some things she didn’t even feel safe putting in the diaries.”

“I am sure it was to protect those she loved. She said A.E.S. and her boyfriend could get in a lot of trouble. I also think she wanted to protect your mom and H.A.L.”

“Yeah.”

“The pages we skipped, was there anything we can use?”

“I don’t think so. You can take it and read them. I don’t want to read any more of it alone for a while.”

“It must be hard learning the things.”

“Yeah, but when he hit her, that got me.”

“Me too. I can’t stand a man that hits a girl. Do you think he hit H.A.L. and that’s why she was so scared of him?”

“I know so, mom wrote about in the pages, we skipped.”

“Who do you think H.A.L. is?”

“Gran’s sister.”

“Me too. So, we assume she is married to M.A.L. That would make him your mom’s uncle.”